Bob Bell to leave Mercedes at end of season

Mercedes' technical director Bob Bell will leave his job at the end of the current season with the "intention of pursuing new challenges outside the company".

Bell resigned his position in December last year and will continue with the team until November. Bell has been technical director at Mercedes since April 2011, but his role will not be replaced ahead of next season.

Bell began his F1 career with McLaren in 1982, and enjoyed stints at Benetton and Jordan before moving to Renault, and rose to the position of technical director in 2004. He played a key role in Fernando Alonso's drivers' titles in 2005 and 2006 and was acting principal for the remainder of the 2009 season after the fallout of Nelson Piquet's crash at the Singapore Grand Prix the previous season.